| A. E. Housman (1859–1936). A Shropshire Lad. 1896. | | | | XII. When I watch the living meet | | | | | | WHEN I watch the living meet, | | | And the moving pageant file | | | Warm and breathing through the street | | | Where I lodge a little while, | | | | | If the heats of hate and lust | 5 | | In the house of flesh are strong, | | | Let me mind the house of dust | | | Where my sojourn shall be long. | | | | | In the nation that is not | | | Nothing stands that stood before; | 10 | | There revenges are forgot, | | | And the hater hates no more; | | | | | Lovers lying two and two | | | Ask not whom they sleep beside, | | | And the bridegroom all night through | 15 | | Never turns him to the bride. | | | | | |
